College is often the first time students have to manage their finances on their own. By this time in their lives, students have tuition, room, and board, groceries, transportation, texts, and more to pay for.
They may work part-time jobs during the semester and full-time in the summer. Some students receive financial aid in two installments each year, while others rely on family and friends to support them through college.
That combination can make budgeting feel complicated.
Modern technology enables financial management to be reduced to a series of manageable tasks. In particular, instead of spending hours trying to work out and track all of your spending money, or worse still trying to remember when a bill is due, there are many applications, services, and devices that help organize your spending and account balances, and help compare costs and plan for future.
While technology does not ensure financial decisions are made well, such tools can make an understanding of where money is going easier. Providing tools to manage money is the aim of this article, hopefully helping students manage their finances better in their study years.
Budgeting Apps Create a Clear View of Spending
One of the main challenges for a student trying to manage their finances is realizing how quickly small purchases can add up.
Small purchases add up quickly. That coffee and pastry in the morning, the take-out food for dinner each night, the subscription to a streaming service, and the occasional rideshare can all add up to well over half of a student’s available cash for the month.
Many budgeting apps help organize your spending into the different categories and connect directly to your bank accounts and credit cards. This helps you see your spending for things like food, transportation, entertainment, and more.
This is important for several reasons. The first reason is that vague financial goals are not helpful. By tracking your spending of money on food delivery services for example, you can come up with ways to save money.
For example, you can set a financial goal to reduce your spending on food delivery services from $180 per month to $90 per month for the month of March.
Other budgeting apps for college students allow for specific amounts of money to be allocated to certain groups of expenditures and can even issue notifications when the sum spent within certain subcategories of expenditures is about to reach limits.
As was stated before, it is possible to manage money while having fun at the same time, and the best way to do this is to put financial spending into a budget and make decisions based off of that.
Mobile Banking Makes Daily Money Management Faster
Mobile banking for students has transformed the way a student manages his or her finances while at college. With mobile banking, students can access their accounts whenever they want and are able to check their balances, send and receive money, pay bills, and
Rather than waiting for a monthly statement to arrive, students can now check on their account(s) in real time, view all recent transactions, transfer funds between accounts, deposit checks remotely, pay bills and even lock a debit card if it has been lost.
Living away from home as a student, it can be inconvenient to manage your account when there is a problem, but with mobile banking apps, you can sort issues out remotely.
Mobile banking apps allow users to see their account balance and deal with recent transactions, send money to other accounts, deposit checks, set up bill payments and lock missing debit cards.
In addition to checking your account balance, your mobile banking app will often allow you to receive real-time transaction alerts.
These can be sent to your phone every time you use your card for a purchase, when your account balance falls below a certain amount, or even when your employer makes a direct deposit into your account.
Automatic Transfers Make Saving More Consistent
Creating a small emergency fund can have a significant impact for a student during their college years, who are typically struggling to make ends meet with their part-time jobs.
Although the funds in the account will likely be meager at first, it will create a safety net to draw from in case of an emergency.
By way of example, an unexpected expense may be required for a laptop repair, for a medical copay, for a trip home at short notice, or for an unexpected increase in utilities expense.
If the student has not saved for such an occasion, they will risk having to pay for it by credit card or by way of a loan.
This is how Saving money can feel unrealistic during college, especially when income is limited. Still, even a small emergency fund can make a meaningful difference.
An unexpected expense may involve a laptop repair, a medical copay, a last-minute trip home, or a higher-than-expected utility bill. Without savings, students may have to use a credit card or borrow money.
It doesn’t have to be a lot of money. In fact, many students find that transferring $5, $10, or $20 from their checking account to their savings account after each paycheck is enough to build up a cushion of funds over time.
These can be rounded up to the nearest dollar and the change saved. For example, a $4.60 purchase would be rounded up to $4.60 + $0.40 (the change saved) = $5.00 and this $0.40 would be automatically transferred to the student’s savings account.
While saving money with limited funds as a student is not easy and takes time, by depositing small amounts of money into a savings account regularly, students can create a financial safety net before they know it.
Digital Tools Help Students Understand Education Costs
Beyond tuition, students also have to factor in for example fees, books and study materials, transportation, accommodation and food, as well as interest on money that they have borrowed.
Digital calculators for costs of higher education.
For example, a student loan calculator can help students figure out how much they will have to pay each month for their student loans, based on the amount of the loan, the interest rate on the loan, and the repayment term of the loan.
The calculator can also show how much interest students will have to pay over the life of the loan, and how the repayment term of the loan affects the amount of interest that students have to pay.
This information will help those in college compare different types of loans before committing to them. It will also help those who have recently graduated from college prepare for when the first bill is due.
The Federal Student Aid is an authoritative source of information on federal loan options and repayment plans, as well as general information on financial aid for students.
Keep in mind, though, that your actual payments can differ based on a number of factors, including the type of loans you have, their interest rates, any fees, the repayment options you choose, and your future income.
Technology should be used to better ask questions to learn about costs and to read details about them.
Subscription Trackers Reduce Unnecessary Expenses
Most subscriptions are easy to sign up for, but harder to cancel later.
These services can range from music and cloud storage to fitness and gaming. Even study services for school can cost in the long run after a free trial.
Tracking subscription charges can help track what costs the student are willing to write off each month. Putting charges in a single list makes easy to decide on which charges can be written off.
Canceling even a few subscriptions can bring in considerable savings. For example, if you find that you are paying for three different subscriptions that each cost $8 per month, canceling them can save you $24 per month or $288 per year.
By setting up a reminder on your calendar before the free trial ends, you can avoid accidentally signing up for a service that you won’t need once the trial has ended.
Subscriptions can cost money and also go unused over the summer. If there are certain subscriptions that are needed for school, then the rest of the year can be used to go through and cancel out the rest of the subscriptions.
Building Better Habits With Digital Support
Modern financial tools such as apps for smartphones and tablets make it easier for college students to track money, make payments, and save for future needs. They are also great price comparison tools and financial calendars.
That convenience can make money management less stressful.
Most importantly, when students have the information they need to be aware of their money, they can make informed financial decisions.
Strengthening Financial Management Habits, Using Technology in a Meaningful Way: Track spending, review bills, compare prices and save on a regular basis. Also, plan for future payments.
Finally, basic habits are all you need. Most of us know how to budget but we don’t track spending and we put off till tomorrow things that we can do today.
Most people are not in control of their finances, and technology can help them. The simple act of creating a budget, or tracking spending and saving for specific goals, can give students peace of mind.
